website watertownhistory.org
ebook History of Watertown, Wisconsin
Schimmel Cigar Store
William Schimmel
1858 - 1941
Portfolio
of holdings, Watertown Historical Society
1909
02 12
William Schimmel’s Residence Wrecked by a Gas Explosion
Face of Mr. Schimmel Badly Burned, and His Wife's Face Burned and Arm
Broken
Report of Explosion Heard Nearly a Mile Away
Shortly after 2 o'clock Monday
morning a gas explosion occurred at the home of William Schimmel at 420 North
Church Street, which made a sad looking wreck of his fine home and nearly
killed Mr. Schimmel and his wife. At
about 2 o'clock that morning Mr. Schimmel awoke and smelled the escaping gas in
his house and he called his wife. They
got up and raised a number of windows and opened several of the doors and then
went down [to the] cellar and opened the cellar door to let out whatever gas
was in that part of the house. When he
felt there was no more danger of an explosion, he lit matches and searched for
a gas leak in the piping, and as he reached a point in the cellar where a
wooden door led into the space under his sitting room, gas escaping through a
crack in the door ignited and the explosion followed, throwing Mrs. Schimmel to
the floor of the cellar and breaking her left arm. Both she and her husband had their faces
badly burned and the wonder is that they were not killed. Mr. Schimmel carried his wife to the second
story of his home and called in the neighbors to look after her. The sitting room floor was rent in thousands
of pieces and fire set in.
The fire department responded
promptly and put the fire out. The
ceilings and walls of the sitting room, dining room and parlor were badly
shattered and windows and doors blown out.
The front outside brick wall of the sitting room was blown down and the
brick walls all around the house were cracked and bulged out. It appears the gas escaped from a weak joint
at an elbow in the gas pipe under the sitting room of the house and that the
gas had been escaping there for quite a time and so great was the amount stored
there that when ignited it exploded with terrific force. Mr. Schimmel's loss will no doubt be at least
$1500. It is a very serious loss to him,
but he feels thankful that he himself and wife escaped with their lives. All day Monday hundreds of people visited the
scene of the explosion and all expressed surprise at its seriousness and
wondered that both Mr. Schimmel and his wife escaped with such slight injuries.
Mr. Schimmel’s loss is fully
covered by insurance and a satisfactory settlement has been made. WG
1910
03 25 NEW CIGAR FACTORY
William Schimmel and
son Clarence have leased one of the new buildings now being erected in West
Main Street [204 W Main] of C. E. Sommerfeld, and will open a cigar factory
therein and also handle a fine line of cigars, tobacco, pipes and smokers'
articles of all kinds. They expect to be
ready for business about April 15. WG
05 27 The
new cigar store of William Schimmel & Son in
West Main Street [204 W Main, cigar mfgs] was opened
on Saturday last. The store is known as
the Juniata and is one of the very finest in the city. It is nearly furnished and well stocked with
everything first-class in the smoker’s line.
The Gazette joins the many
friends of the proprietors in wishing them success in their new
enterprise. WG
1936
07 11 FOUR GENERATIONS OF SCHIMMELS
05 27 
William, son Hilmer, granddaughter and great
grandson
1937
04 06 Article includes pic
One of Watertown's last veteran
active cigarmakers, a man whole spent 64 years in the game, has retired. He stepped out yesterday from active business
and has closed his
The man is William Schimmel, head
of the William Schimmel and Son cigar store, located at Main and North Water
streets. He went to work for Wiggenhorn Brothers
when he was but 15 years of age. It was considered
the thing to do those days, to start work at an early age and learn a
trade. Mr. Schimmel learned the business
from the ground up and became an expert cigarmaker and later went into business
for himself. He started as a tobacco
stripper and gradually got a place "on the bench" and daily made his
share of cigars, back in the days when the cigar business in Watertown was
booming. In 1908 he went into business
for himself, first opening a place in
With Mr. Schimmel's retirement
passes another link in Watertown's once famous cigar industry, when it had many
local factories, employing several hundred cigarmakers.
Among the cigars which bore the
Schimmel mark were such favorites as the S and S, Havana Special, Juanita, and
the noted 182. The concern also made
cigars for special trade and concerns and at one time employed from 16 to 18 men
in its shop.
The formula for the Schimmel
cigars never varied. He always insisted
on the best and saw to it that his trade got it. The cigars turned out at his factory enjoyed
not only a wide local sale, but popularity in a wide area and in many distant
places.
"Things have certainly changed
a lot, especially in the retail line," Mr. Schimmel said today in
announcing his retirement. "Why
when I started in the business Watertown was known far and wide as a famous
cigar city, and any young man who took up the business got into a fine field and
learned a good trade. But things are
different now. There is hardly any young
man going into the game these days.
Machine made cigars and the immense national sales campaigns by
nationally circulated cigars have made a thing of the past for the smaller
factories. Some day
these may come back, but I doubt it. But
it was a great business while it lasted.
I am glad to have had a part in it in Watertown. We made many fine business contacts and I
appreciate the years of support which our trade gave us. Now, I am ready to take it easy and loaf and
enjoy a rest."
Son Takes New Job
Walter A. Schimmel, who has been associated
in the business, will become associated with the Tri-County Tobacco Co.,
formerly the Miller Cigar company, in
The store building which Schimmels are vacating will probably be occupied soon by
another concern. Several interests are
negotiating for the place but no deal has been closed thus far.
Mr. Schimmel recalled that
Charles A. Kading, former congressman, bought the
first box of cigars from him when he opened the business and he was also the
last man to buy a box when Mr. Schimmel closed out his stock.
_________________________________________________
1941
10 31
W. Schimmel
Is Dead at 83
Former
Manufacturer of Cigars Here Will Be Buried Monday
William Schimmel, 83, former
cigarmaker and cigar manufacturer, died here today at the home of his son,
Clarence Schimmel,
Mr. Schimmel retired from the cigars
business in 1937. He was a native of
Germany and was born
He married Miss Emma Speer on
Mr. Schimmel was a member of the Plattdeutscher Verein.
He served several terms as alderman from the old Fifth ward and was a
charter member of the Cigarmakers Union here and served as its president.
The funeral held from the Hafemeister funeral home.
The Rev. C. W. Pinkney of the First Congregational church will
officiate. Burial will be
in Oak Hill cemetery.
History of Watertown,
Wisconsin